Subscribers are increasingly canceling strategically, then resubscribing when desired content arrives.
Across the streaming landscape in early 2023, the promise of affordable on-demand entertainment is quietly giving way to a familiar arithmetic of rising costs. Paramount Plus, announcing during an earnings call in February, became the fifth major service in recent months to raise subscription prices — bundling Showtime into its premium tier as both justification and consolation. The move reflects a broader industry reckoning: the economics that made streaming feel like liberation from cable are now bending back toward the very pressures they once displaced.
- Paramount Plus is raising both its ad-supported and premium tiers — the latter jumping $2 to $11.99 with Showtime now folded in — affecting all U.S. subscribers without exception.
- This is the fifth major streaming price hike in a matter of months, with Disney Plus, HBO Max, DirecTV Stream, Fubo TV, and Sling TV all raising rates in rapid succession.
- The cumulative weight of these increases is pushing subscribers toward strategic 'churn' — canceling and resubscribing around specific content drops rather than maintaining steady memberships.
- Platforms are responding by expanding cheaper, ad-supported tiers, a tacit acknowledgment that the industry may have accelerated price growth faster than household budgets can absorb.
Paramount Plus announced during a February 2023 earnings call that it would raise prices on both subscription tiers. The entry-level, ad-supported plan rises from $4.99 to $5.99 per month, while the premium, ad-free tier climbs from $9.99 to $11.99 — now bundled with Showtime as part of the deal. The increase applies to all subscribers in the United States and select international markets.
Company president Bob Bakish positioned the move as measured, arguing that Paramount Plus still occupies the value end of the streaming spectrum. The Showtime integration, he suggested, made the price adjustment logical and overdue. Still, the decision to announce the hike during an earnings call rather than through a formal press release hinted at some sensitivity around the subject.
The announcement arrived as part of a broader wave. Disney Plus, HBO Max, DirecTV Stream, Fubo TV, and Sling TV had all raised prices in the preceding months, making Paramount the fifth major service to do so in rapid succession. The cumulative effect is changing subscriber behavior: rather than maintaining continuous memberships, many consumers now cancel and resubscribe strategically around specific releases — dropping a service in a quiet month and returning when a marquee show premieres.
In response, platforms have begun building out cheaper, ad-supported tiers. Netflix and Disney Plus both launched lower-cost options in late 2022, offering a foothold for price-sensitive households. Whether these tiers will stabilize the subscriber base or simply establish a new, lower-revenue normal remains uncertain. What is clear is that streaming, once imagined as a clean break from cable's complexity and cost, is beginning to resemble the very system it set out to replace.
Paramount Plus is raising prices on both of its subscription tiers, the company announced during an earnings call in mid-February 2023. The entry-level plan, which includes ads, will climb from $4.99 to $5.99 per month. The ad-free tier is jumping more steeply—from $9.99 to $11.99 monthly—and will now bundle Showtime as part of the upgrade. Neither existing subscribers nor new ones will escape the increase; the hike applies across the board in the United States and select international markets.
Paramount Group President Bob Bakish framed the move as reasonable positioning. In remarks during the earnings call, he noted that Paramount Plus remains competitively priced within the streaming landscape, occupying what he called the "value end of the pricing spectrum." The company's logic was straightforward: Showtime's integration into the premium tier justified the bump, and 2023 was the year to act on it. Yet the timing of the announcement—buried in an earnings call rather than a formal press release—suggested some awareness that price increases have become a sore subject for subscribers.
Paramount is not alone. This marks the fifth significant price hike across streaming and live TV services in recent months, part of an industry-wide reckoning with the economics of on-demand entertainment. Disney Plus raised its ad-free tier by $3, introducing a cheaper ad-supported option alongside it. HBO Max, timed conveniently with the launch of The Last of Us, increased its ad-free price by $1 to $15.99 per month. Even traditional cable alternatives are following suit: DirecTV Stream and Fubo TV each added $5 to their monthly costs, while Sling TV's Blue package rose $5 in select regions after adding ABC to its lineup.
The cumulative effect is reshaping how people consume streaming. Subscribers are increasingly practicing what the industry calls "churn"—canceling memberships strategically, then resubscribing when desired content arrives. Someone waiting for The Mandalorian season 3 might drop Disney Plus in January or February, when the service had little to offer beyond Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Bad Batch, then return in March when the Star Wars show premiered. This pattern of temporary exits and returns is becoming a rational consumer strategy rather than an anomaly.
Services have begun responding by expanding their cheaper, ad-supported tiers. Netflix launched Basic with Ads in late 2022, followed by Disney Plus Basic. The logic is clear: if the full-price experience is becoming too expensive for many households, offer a lower rung on the ladder. It's a tacit admission that the industry may have pushed too hard, too fast on price increases. Whether these ad-supported options will stem the tide of churn, or simply create a new baseline of lower-revenue subscribers, remains to be seen. For now, the streaming landscape looks less like a unified alternative to cable and more like a patchwork of services that consumers will need to rotate through strategically to afford.
Notable Quotes
Paramount Plus remains on the value end of the pricing spectrum and will raise prices for both Premium and Essential tiers in 2023.— Bob Bakish, Paramount Group President
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why announce a price increase during an earnings call rather than directly to subscribers?
It's a way of managing the message. Earnings calls reach investors and analysts first—people focused on financial metrics. A direct announcement would lead with customer frustration. By embedding it in earnings commentary, the company gets to frame it as a strategic business decision before the news spreads.
Bakish said Paramount Plus is still on the "value end" of pricing. Is that actually true?
Compared to HBO Max at $15.99 for ad-free, yes, technically. But that comparison only works if you ignore what people actually pay. Most households don't subscribe to one service—they subscribe to three or four, rotating them. The value proposition breaks down when you're paying $12 here, $15 there, $7 somewhere else.
Why is Showtime being bundled into the premium tier specifically?
It's a consolidation play. Paramount owns both services, so merging them reduces operational costs and gives the premium tier a tangible reason to cost more. It also makes the entry-level tier look like a better deal by comparison—you're "only" paying $6 for ads instead of $12 for ad-free content.
The article mentions churn as a strategy. Is that actually sustainable for the services?
No, not long-term. Churn is expensive—acquisition costs money, and temporary subscribers don't watch as much or see as many ads. But services are trapped. If they don't raise prices, their margins shrink. If they do, people leave. Ad-supported tiers are an attempt to break that cycle, but they only work if enough people accept ads to make up for lower subscription revenue.
What happens if this keeps accelerating?
You get back to cable. Not literally—nobody's going back to $150 monthly bills. But you get a fragmented market where people subscribe to two or three services permanently and rotate through others seasonally. That's actually worse for the services than cable was, because at least cable had predictable churn.